Oil and natural gas wells often utilize wellbore articles that, due to their function, are only required to have limited service lives that are considerably less than the service life of the well. After an article service function is complete, it must be removed or disposed of in order to recover the original size of the fluid pathway for use, including hydrocarbon production, CO2 sequestration, etc.
To facilitate their removal, such articles may be formed of a material that reacts with a downhole fluid so that the articles need not be physically removed by milling or drilling, but may instead corrode or disintegrate under downhole conditions. To maintain the mechanical strength and the structural integrity of the articles during service, the articles normally have a slow corrosion rate. However, when the tool functionality is complete, such a slow disintegration rate is no longer desirable because the sooner the articles disintegrate, the quicker the well can be put on production. Therefore, the development of articles that have the mechanical properties necessary to perform their intended function and then rapidly disintegrate is very desirable.